Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Retribution
by Miner7365
Summary: Robbie dislikes this. Or, being blunt, he hates this. He hates the caricatures that make up society, acting fittingly to their monstrous forms. He hates his new body, stripping him of his hands for monstrous claws. All he wishes is to go home, and forget about this. But it is not that simple. He has been welcomed to the world of pokémon, and he is here to stay. For now, at least.


Rather then clog up these notes I have up here and waste your collective time, I've left some notes on my FFN profile. If you want to hear what I have to say at any given time, go there, as I don't plan on writing author's notes in each chapter.

With that out of the way, let us begin this show that should have started months ago. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter One: Caricatures**

The woods were nearly motionless, as they had been for years. A quiet, static noise emanated from the trees, a constant anyone still living in the area had long became accustomed to. And a certain child's day turned from bad to worse, as he walked out the door from a restless sleep and looked towards the river.

With the crashing of water, and burden weighing on his chest, a Froakie stared at what lay before him. Falling from the pile near his house, his and his father's entire year's worth of lumber vanished as they all rolled into the river. Stuck between going after the two guild-members laughing with glee and chasing after the logs, Koie picked the latter option and dashed madly down the side of the river. His concentration focused solely on them, he hoped for an opportunity to arise to stop their journey mid-stream.

But in his moments of adrenaline fueled concentration, he forgot the river ended in a waterfall. Almost falling off the cliff like the logs, Koie stopped mid-dash when the land cut off in front of him. Gripping the cliff's edge from the safety of land with wide eyes, he witnessed each log meticulously vanish from his sight.

There went months of work. All gone, because of those two idiots he could hear approaching from behind. Fists tightened, Koie turned around towards the team that did this. Tumbling, crashing, burning hatred filled him: contempt directed towards the Chespin and Bidoof gleefully chuckling at him.

"Heya, don't look so down, Koie. At least ya ain't the one at the bottom of that lake down there," the Bidoof, going by the name of Idof, said, "Also, I'll bet ya in some years, that'll wood be worth old Barel's entire decaying business! Seriously, ya should be thanking us!"

Koie wanted to slap the grin off Idof's face, taking personal offense at the insult to his father, but he held back. The Chespin—who proclaimed himself to be named Espin, like Idof had similarly done outside his house earlier—would have jumped at any chance to get at Koie. For that reason, he was forced to ignore his heated anger. He had to bottle it up and pretend it did not exist, like everyone else who had to deal with guild idiots, if their badges were any indicator.

Otherwise, he would not have a face, as Espin would take express pleasure in barraging him with sharp leaves. And Koie did not want to make old father Barel wake up to his son gone.

With that in mind, Koie hopped off into the woods. Ignoring Idof's comments, and Espin's loaded words teeming for a fight, he took another route in order to avoid them on his way back to his house. It hurt, and by all means he wished to go back and surprise attack Espin. But for his father's and his sake, they had to be ignored.

Small dots of darkened soil peppered the ground behind Koie. Soil, with the tears of someone who felt like they could not deliver.

He suffered, as his tears of regret dug and buried themselves far, far into the ground.

…

…

…

_Why did you have to go away, and fall asleep right when you got home? Why couldn't you stick around in these last few weeks before the final log selling? _Koie asked himself, as he walked alongside the riverbank, heading back to his house.

_Who in the world did you need to visit in Solis and tire yourself out for, at this time of year?_

Koie slowed down, before he stopped and looked out onto the river. His dirtied face reflecting in the rapidly moving current, he begrudgingly looked back to see if the two idiots were still there, ready to cause more pain.

Thankfully, for the sake of his sanity, they were not. It was just the flow of the current, and the scenic backdrop the logs had disappeared towards. Relieved they were gone, Koie let out a breath of air and let his attention be taken by the woods. A few trees swaying, the sun rising, and the silence of morning calming, it gave ample time for Koie to think. Whether about Barel, or the new reason he disliked for the guild, or this morning.

_Wait. _Koie thought, before stopping in his tracks as a realization hit him like a bullet, _how do I even explain that to him? That the few logs we had dedicated for the collectors were ruined a few days before collection? Because he wasn't there to stop some idiots from ruining our entire supply?_

Looking out onto the river, face covered by his hands, Koie sat staring at the waters. While it may have seemed obsessive, it was hard for Koie not to worry about old Barel. Age had been affecting him for a while, and with what had happened both now and earlier, Koie feared its effects would stress Barel out more than he needed to be. And that was disregarding other things he feared. Feelings he felt earlier, after seeing Idof's smug face, and remembering the looks he got from him last time he went to the city. The mere thought of Espin's laugh, and how far down it dug into him.

Sighing in unworthy self-pity, Koie stared out into the river further, looking for solace. Whenever he had a problem, it was something he would do to calm himself. The serenity of the air, the fresh smell of the forest and of trees and leaves, the wind wafting along the current; all of the beautiful things about the riverside he always enjoyed in contrast with Barel's distaste for them.

And much like those cases, it was capable of calming even the worst of days for him. But the sweet times were over. Now it was time to tell Barel about the individual who met him at the door earlier today. Houd, who demanded materials they now did not have on them. Savoring the forest air for one last minute, Koie trekked the rest of the way back to his home. Approaching the door, he gave it a long, hard knock.

After that, he waited, and waited. Not hearing any response, Koie put his ear against the door and listened for anyone inside; Barel's distinctive snore became clear once he waited long enough.

_Okay, great. I can wait on breaking the news to him, since he's asleep. That's… _Koie stopped for a moment to open the door, peering over the corner to confirm his suspicions, _that's better than what I was expecting. He'll at least get some nice rest before the reveal, I guess…_

Silently making his way into and through the house, he approached his room. A small window, once covered by the logs, let light seep into the abode and back-lit dust falling in the air. Koie rested his head on his straw bed, trying to get over the second horrid event this morning. Closing his eyes, he let his consciousness laxly fade away, devolving into snoring alongside his father.

The forest fell silent once again, besides the constant static near the trees and a small point, where a family lay in blissful rest.

Like father, like son.

* * *

Water crashing from the river high above, logs were brought along the current and delivered with a splash each time. Most found their journey prematurely ending here, as they sunk far under the hidden lake's waters, with a few exceptions. Those few managed to trump against the water, and float on its surface.

The bunch that managed to survive the waterfall were all affected by the water's momentum, which slowly pushed them towards a small beach. Alongside them, lay an oddity most looking from above would not note.

Unconscious, he slowly drifted to shore. Eventually deposited onto said shore, he eventually started to stir and wake up. Opening his eyes with several hundred questions bugging him, the first thing he did that morning was complain.

_Ugh… why does everything hurt so much. _

_And more importantly, why do I feel so… sad, I guess I could put it?_

Those were the first few sentences Robbie thought to himself, in all their baffled glory. Scatter-brained, his mind continued to spontaneously jump from question to question as consciousness dawned on him.

_Nevermind that, though. Perhaps that's just a residual effect of me being me. Where the hell am I? The taste of salt, the air… it's all so odd._

_Am I in the wilderness or something? And if I am, how did I get here?_

His ears serenaded by the crashing ebb and flow of waves, Robbie opened his eyes to stark tan sand. Dreariness threatening to make him lose consciousness again, Robbie fought against it, forcing his eyes open. Slowly managing to get himself off the ground, using his oddly lofty arms, his list of questions continued to grow as he saw more and more of his surroundings.

_What is this, a beach of some kind? _He asked himself, not amused at whatever elaborate joke this was. Going against his desire for rest, Robbie stabilized his position on the ground, it oddly hard to keep himself up. Praying for a moment he really was not in the middle of nowhere, he looked around the area to get his bearings.

"Freaking hell, I really am out in the middle of nowhere," he said, still pissed off about waking up in the woods. Walking around, his gait oddly light alongside his arms, he gauged his surroundings away from the water. Alongside the breeze from the trees, and the odd noises seeping out of the woods, he thought about an old saying.

_I know I got warned a while back that college usually brings about some out-of-body experiences. But this… this is just outright peculiar. Where the hell—_

Staring at the water of the lake, his thoughts clambered to a sudden halt as his reflection gave new meaning to the term 'out-of-body' experiences. A face of a cartoon dinosaur—an Archen, if his hazy childhood memories were not failing him—stared straight back at him.

Left speechless, Robbie continued to stare at the water, not able to bring himself to break the moment of pure incredulity. Thoughts flooded his mind, pounding down on him like the waterfall providing subsidence to the lake across from him.

_T-this can't be real, _He mentally justified, peering closer into the lake_ This has to be a dream of some kind. _

_But dreams aren't this vivid, that's just something stories do for dramatic effect. So what the freaking hell is going on here? And why is an Archen, assuming my memory isn't failing me, staring back where I should be? _

Falling further into his concerns, Robbie moved closer at the lake, looking at the face masquerading as him. Freaked out by his movement reflected in the waters, his reaction was shortly also mirrored on the ever changing reflection. Continuing to test nature's mirror, he waved his right arm in front of himself; its reflection mirrored perfectly both in front of him and in the waters below. Also, physical proof of his new form now stood in front of him, as Robbie realized he could have just looked down the entire time.

Deluded hope of avoiding the truth gone, Robbie soon relegated and glanced down to confirm his fears. Much to his expectations and regret, he saw his body was one of a Archen: his exterior dominated by yellow tufts of feathers, with a bushy red plump of them around his neck, alongside two thin-as-twig legs supporting him. Looking closer at his 'arm' in front of him, he also saw both of his arms had turned into yellow wings, with blue accents along the edges of them.

The fact was undeniable now. But that did not stop him from digging for other memories. Curiously looking into his reflection, Robbie tried to dig for other things inside his mind, besides the various hells of college and limited knowledge of species typing he held. But other than those almost useless topics, he came up with a near blank, besides some residual knowledge of how living worked.

That would prove to be a problem. However, Robbie was not all that bothered by it right at the moment. Rather, he was more bothered by a existential crisis, as he internally broke down.

_Really, t-this… this can't be real, _he rationalized, staring at the bird looking at him from the water. Tearing his vision away from the thing in the water, he stared up at the clouds, trying to find further justification of this not being reality.

_Yeah, this... this can't be real. It's physically impossible for this to be real. I can't be in the body of a bird, modeled after a cartoon dinosaur, _he rationalized further, attempting to calm himself.

Focused on himself, he failed to notice one of the prior mentioned logs approach. His view concentrated on his form, a branch reaching into his view from said log sent him into panic. Robbie shrieked, stumbled, and landed back-first on the beachfront. Fears of some monstrous feral that wanted to kill him brewing inside of him, he shivered as he covered his face with his wings.

It was a sad, pitiful display. One to be expected from someone as sheltered as Robbie. Thankfully for his sake, Robbie eventually got up, and stared incredulously at what he overreacted towards. It was simple log, with a few more branches on the bottom then normal. One that had washed up from the lake, that Robbie reacted as if it was his worse living nightmare, ready to tear him from shred to shred.

Sitting down near the beachfront, talons dipped in the water, Robbie sheepishly rubbed his head with his right wing. Looking down at said wing, and the lack of his hand, Robbie made a facsimile of a fist with what remained.

_Guess it doesn't matter what I think is happening, nor what logic dictates. Because it's almost inevitable other such caricatures from this series exist in this world, and act akin to feral beasts, even if I just overreacted like a moron then and there._

Deciding he would much rather not die that way, Robbie pushed himself off the ground and glanced around for a place to rest. Searching around for a bit, he encountered a pathway leading up the hill, tucked away behind foliage blocking it from his view earlier. He glanced around some more, hoping for another route or a small secluded area. With no such luck and a sigh, Robbie began his trek to the top of the hill.

…

…

…

The path was in disrepair, as Robbie discovered when stones got caught in his feet-turned-talons. Waving his talons around like a madman trying to get a shoe off, the reasons he hated the woods stacked and multiplied, alongside his paranoia towards something jumping out of the trees. Besides the racket he made walking on the path, though, the woods were relatively calm. Nothing popped out of the trees to get Robbie, nor did any creatures like the illusive tree monster from the lake come to get him.

It was so quiet and uneventful, that his reaction to a house strolling into his view got more out of him than anything he had heard in the forest. Staring, not sure whether he expected there to be no humans, Robbie got closer to the house. Peering at it from behind a rock, he ducked behind said rock and consulted himself.

_I mean, it would make sense they would be around somewhere… but of course there's the risk I could be imprisoned like an animal, if I remember this series' core mechanic, _he thought, shivering at being captured by a gaudy red and white ball_. Just my luck they are capable of doing that, though. Guess I have to go hide in the woods then, and see if there is some secluded area I could hide out in within there._

Backing away from the rock, Robbie turned around and walked back into the annoying, pebble-laden path. The first steps were the easiest, as the trees nor his paranoia crowd his vision. But each one became harder than the last, as stones got caught up in his talons, slowing him down. He could feel it already. Something chasing him, and him tripping. Tripping and falling in his stupid form, as he watched it approach in fear. The caricature licking its chops before going in for their lunch. His final moments ones of pitiful regret.

Of course, that had not happened. It was only a theoretical scenario of what might go on to happen. But it was one he feared greatly, so much so that the option of 'playing pet' slowly came up in his mind. He did not want to address it, and instead pretended the idea did not exist. But his fears only grew in scale, as paranoia filled his brain.

And soon, despite every bit of self-respect screaming inside of him, his sense of self-preservation prevailed.

_Who am I kidding? _he fumed at himself, as he faced the uncomfortable truth. _I don't have the faintest clue of how to survive in the woods_. _I'm going to die out here if I try to survive on my own, and I know that._

Much to his discomfort, he turned back to the house and approached it. It stood looming in front of him, waiting to take his independence away. A dilemma he was forced to choose the option that might allow for him to live.

_Even if I don't like it, I'm just going to have to play pet for someone for a while, until I understand how things work around here. And if that ends up going poorly, or they are some freak… well, let me just hope this is a bizarre dream, because I'm out of other options._

Walking along a bizarrely tiny set of stone steps, Robbie made it to the door. With a few final moments of hesitance, Robbie knocked as hard as he could with a facsimile of a fist. Waiting impatiently and hearing no-one approaching, Robbie knocked harder. And then, still sans a response, even harder. He swore he could hear shuffling, but nothing beyond that. Perhaps some mumbling, and some snoring, but that could have been his mind exaggerating other noises. Either way, no one was at the door, besides maybe an easily excitable dog.

Growing impatient, Robbie crossed his wings and huffed, _Welp, this is great! Guess I didn't have a choice after all! Back into the fun woods with things waiting to kill me I go, then!_

Right as he was about to turn around, the door cracked, grabbing Robbie's attention. Peering at the edge exposed, trying to see anybody, his efforts were futile. But another thing quickly emerged to grab Robbie's attention.

"Uh... h-hiya there, Houd. Sorry about the delay on answering the door, I… I was asleep," a quiet, defeated voice said, as Robbie face scrunched up. Not bothering to respond back, believing whoever was at the door would not understand him, Robbie continued to listen with demented curiosity.

"No response, huh..." they said, as if they were teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. "Well, that's… fine. We… we both already know what you're here for, anyways. L-let me just… go get the door open properly..."

The door slowly creaked open, revealing the house in more detail. It was less robust than Robbie had expected, shabby and shoddy in parts, but it would make do. As the door opened completely, Robbie gave one last prayer, hoping for some resemblance of proof this had to be a dream. The thing that opened the door slowly peeked over the edge, ending the masquerade created by the door blocking off the view.

It also ended any hope for normalcy Robbie had, as he stared dumbfounded at the creature in front of him.

"Oh," Koie said, freezing up upon seeing his mistake. "I'm… I'm terribly sorry about that mix-up, I thought you were someone else entirely. Are you here for Bibarel, or...?"

Koie's efforts were useless though, as the words never reached Robbie. Robbie's talons digging into the ground and eyes darting around the field, pure, unfiltered panic almost enveloped him entirely.

But Robbie knew that was a bad idea. He breathed in and out, calming his nerves, knowing the creature in front of him could see his behavior. Burning bridges was not the correct course of action, no matter how wrong this situation felt. Robbie knew that, and knew how stupid of a decision it would be to act like a maniac. Rather than commit to that stupidity, he would go with the plan from before. A modified version of said plan, but still a version of it. Get in, get as much information as necessary, and then leave.

It would hurt, but for the sake of himself, he had to play pretend for a bit. Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, faking nonchalance, Robbie looked up at Koie and said, "Oh, sorry, I should be the one apologizing here. It was just the mention of the name "Houd" that reminded me of something, so I was trying to remember that and… I might have forgotten you were there, in the process?"

It was cheesy, and Robbie did not expect it to work, but getting a simple delayed nod out of Koie, it became clear how easy it was to play these creatures like violins. Unaware of signs of doubt in Koie's step, Robbie continued weaving his tale on the spot as they approached the door.

"So, in either case, may I come in to have a discussion about business with your father? I need some things, and I heard about a Bibarel living around here, so I figured I'd—"

Robbie thought it would be a good way to gather some information, both about about the locals and about this family in particular. Stopping his plans though, was Koie himself. Koie stopped hopping forward upon hearing the name 'Bibarel,' before he glanced back at the river behind Robbie. Thinking he had struck of a nerve of some kind, Robbie quizzically walked forward, put his wing on Koie's shoulder, and, with some actual genuineness this time, asked, "Hey, is something wrong? I can come back another day, if there's some sort of issue?"

"No, it's…" Koie shook Robbie's wing off him, and Robbie backed up as Koie continued, "listen, do you really want to know, or are you simply someone that wants to get supplies for whatever construction project you need lumber for?"

Mentally jotting down this was a lumber place, he put his attention back on the frog. "I'd be more than willing to take a few minutes to know about it," Robbie said, seeing the opportunity to pry.

And pry, pry he would.

With a sigh, Koie reopened the door that had been shut by the wind. Motioned inside the house by Koie, Robbie came in. Unacquainted besides his earlier peek, it looked a lot more shabby than he expected, reeking of dinginess from one corner to another. It was also sans much light, and the constant mollifying brown did not help.

Robbie guessed that was to be expected though, in whatever stone age society existed here.

Following Koie along the rough wooden planks, he led Robbie to a walled off corner of the house, acting as a bedroom for Koie. On the far left corner of said section, laid Koie's bed of hay. It resembled a bird nest to a disturbing degree, and was horrifying to think of the cleanliness standards for.

The irony of him being a bird not reaching him, Robbie watched Koie sit down in his 'bed' while he himself folded up his wings and sat on the ground. He would have laid against the wall and sat like a normal person, had his stupid tail not prevented that.

After a bit, when both of them were finally settled in, Koie asked, "Okay, so have you ever heard of Team Idpin?"

Genuinely digging through his mind for the name, Robbie said, "Nope. Not a thing. Why, is it a common name around here?"

"Well, I have no clue. Only thing I know of them is how they bombastically showed up here earlier today," Koie said, glancing out the window for a reason beyond Robbie. "But if you're curious what they have to do with you, they ruined any chance of you getting the logs we had earlier."

Incredulously blinking, Robbie asked, "May I ask how?"

Koie went silent for a moment, before he quietly answered that question under his breath.

"They… they…"

Having only heard one word, Robbie repeated his request, "Hey, uh… sorry, I didn't hear that. Would you mind repeating yourself?"

With a bit more rage imbued in his voice this time, Koie less quietly said, "They… they ruined…"

Still not hearing the message besides two words, Robbie got up and walked closer. Contemplating just leaving and not bothering to gather information from such an individual, he disregarded that option and asked, "Hey, I didn't hear it then either. Would you mind if you—"

That was when Robbie pushed one inch too far, and Koie snapped. "T-they did it! They ruined it! They broke the tether, and let all our work lose! They made them all roll out into the lake, screwing my entire family over!"

Suddenly contending to an angry frog, Robbie backtracked away from Koie as fast as possible. Not remembering the wall was right behind him, he bruised his tail and collapsed on the floor in pain. While he held back curses on the floor, he also watched Koie approach closer and closer.

"They… they… oh great," Koie said, before he stared back into the main room. The pain from Robbie's tail finally manageable, he slowly slumbled up from the ground and looked towards whatever made Koie finally shut up. There, they both saw Barel slowly open his eyes and stumble up from his hay bed. The lumbering giant looked around, before landing his droopy eyes on the pair in the room.

"Listen to me, please don't say anything I just said to Barel," Koie whispered to Robbie, still recovering from his outburst. "I want to tell him myself, later. Just… stay here while I explain why business with you is impossible for a different reason, okay?"

Robbie slowly nodded out of decorum, and noted Barel's name for future reference. Koie then slowly hopped towards his barely awake father, as Robbie watched the scene unfold from the edge of Koie's room.

"So, I be assuming we got a new customer, Koie?" the over-sized beaver said, giving Robbie another name to mentally jot down in his growing list of self-named monsters. "Sorry I was asleep when the customer came in, I had a few things to attend to at ya know where. I thought I would have some more energy, but that didn't work out all that well, did it?"

Robbie held back a chuckle at the overall nonchalance of them talking about their business in front of him, especially after his son's display. Leaning further into the wall, he listened with deeper and deeper intrigue, wondering just how this family ticked.

"Well, about that," Koie started, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "I have something else I need to ask you about. You see, the customer wants lumber, and I was curious whether we had any extra stored besides out in the field, since it was already allocated? You know, like the stuff back in the shed?"

"Well, we got some of it stored away for the time of decay," Barel said, as Robbie wondered what the hell the 'time of decay' was. "But ya know we can't be touching that, since ya know how paralyzingly cold it can get. Besides, ya know I could not have gotten all that wood sold at once, so why are ya being so adamant about supplying him from our shed?"

Robbie watched Barel continue to push Koie for information, leaving him slightly uneasy, even after what the kid did to him. A few more cycles of denial by Koie later, every one of which Robbie cringed at, Barel asked, "Tell me, son? Why do we need to be tapping into that so early? Did something happen while I was away?"

When Koie responded with silence and a blank expression, Robbie watched Barel get up and clamber towards the door, fed up with the charades. Koie's attempts to stop him were more trite and saddening by the second, as he pulled at Barel's leg and left Robbie feeling more and more pity.

Pity, not akin to actual empathy, but what one would feel for a dog. Sadness for something under him, for monsters that acted like animals with some more intelligence. Something that, for better or for worse, went over Koie's earlier request as Robbie decided he had enough of this circus.

Watching Barel try to force open his decrepit door, Robbie hollered for the beaver's attention with a knock on the wall. With both Koie and Barel now looking at him, he cleared his throat of the dust in the house and said, "Listen, Barel, assuming that's what you call yourself by. I… haven't exactly been the most honest with you."

Koie's stare digging into him, Robbie uneasily disregarded it and focused back on Barel. "When I was down near the beach by the lake earlier today, I encountered some logs that washed up on the shore. Put simply, I followed the lead back here, and… your logs are all gone or on that beach, pushed into the river and ruined by the waters by what your son described as Team Idpin."

After that, a prolonged silence fell over the shoddy house, as Robbie crossed his wings and waited for a reaction. The already present shadows in the house felt like they grew, as they sucked any joy left in within the house out and left Barel the only capable of speak up.

"Koie... is that all true?" Barel asked, as Robbie fiddled with his claws with newfound regret.

"Y-yes... I-it is..." Koie said, shallowly looking at the ground. "A-and there's also... also..."

"I think I've heard enough from ya," Barel said, getting right in Koie's face and leaving Robbie to look away with yet more muddled regret. "I entrusted you with a major portion of the family business, and yet you let some hooligans run off with nearly everything. Why, I had some of that lumber promised for others, and now look where we are at? Why, I can't _wait _to have to explain in to those 'mons, because I—"

Robbie was not sure whether this was normal behavior of Barel, but it only made him feel worse. Now blocking out the conversation in favor of his thoughts, he tried to justify his actions, coming up with excuse after excuse as to why it was fine for him to have done this. But none of them worked, and he was forced to now listen to the scene in front of him with a growing pit in his stomach.

"—so please, Koie, just leave me alone for now. With all this mess you created for me, I can't be bothered to—" suddenly, he broke out into coughing, forcing him to have to stumble back to his bed. With Koie helping him over as Robbie watched in silence, Barel collapsed on his side, staring into his son's face from his bed.

Soon, among his varied coughing, Barel began to speak again.

"Please, just"—another cough came out, causing Koie to back off a bit—"just be going, Koie. I'm not able to talk right now about what we'll do, with my state and a customer around, so please… go out to the river or something."

"I… I know ya like it there. I just don't want to be seeing ya in my face right now. I… I hope ya understand."

Koie turned away from his father, leaving him to rest, before he sullenly hopped to the door. Opening and walking out of the door with the help of a stool, he turned around and glared at Robbie before shutting it with vigor. Robbie stared at the scene that had unfolded long after it ended, as plentiful thoughts raced around his mind.

_Look, mind, I don't care about him, _he thought, making his way to the door and digging himself out of his own moral mess._ I haven't, nor have I ever cared about one of these caricatures. I'll simply leave now and use the knowledge I gained to figure out some more about the surroundings. _

Using the stool to open the door like Koie had, Robbie walked through it and shut it behind him softly. Taking a moment to watch the woods around him, he walked along the path, leading him to a river.

Contemplating turning around towards the other pathway away from the house, he saw a familiar silhouette in the distance. Walking closer, it became clear who it was. In all his horrified expectations, there stood Koie, sullenly crying by the water unknowing of Robbie's nearby presence.

Not knowing what to think, Robbie simply stood there, trying to justify his moral qualms in silence.

_It was all because of me, _Robbie thought, trying to justify leaving Koie like he was in his mind and failing. _I answered Barel's question out of pity, against Koie's wishes._

Robbie forced himself to look away and walk the opposite direction. _This isn't my fault, _he thought, not letting himself turn around. _This isn't real, _he thought again, keeping his eyes on the pathway leading away from the house.

_I shouldn't care, _he reasoned._ Why the hell do I care? _he questioned. Finally, after futilely addressing himself with varied statements, he attacked the problem at its core.

_Mind, please stop caring. Stop feeling sympathy for a cartoon frog. Please, mind, do something more productive._ _I don't care, so you shouldn't care. I have no reasons to care about these things. I've never cared, nor will I care anytime soon. _

_Here, let me show you the wreck you want me to care about, if that's what it requires to get you to shut up._

Robbie turned around to look back at Koie, in a last ditch effort to appease his mind. The frog stared straight at him, his eyes telling a story all on their own. Shallowly rubbing his wings together, Robbie guilt piled onto him in higher and higher layers as Koie stared at him.

As he stared, something chipped within Robbie, and he felt remorse. Then it cracked, leaving him angry at himself.

And then finally, it broke, as Robbie ran towards Koie. Reaching Koie after he turned back to looking at the water, Koie shallowly stared at Robbie's reflection. Not bothering to look at Robbie properly, Koie addressed the reflection itself.

"Please, tell me what you want now? What else you want to steal from me, since I'm running dry on things to be stolen by 'mons like you?"

The question stood in the air for a few moments, floating, before Robbie finally coughed up something in response.

"I-I..." Robbie stuttered out like an idiot, not internally convinced about his decision to do this. Pushing through his reservations and approaching Koie with a wing outstretched, he said, "Listen, I don't want to talk about that right now. Please, let's just—"

"So, you have nothing to say about it, huh?" Koie asked, as he looked away from Robbie's reflection in the current. "You can't even answer my question, yet you expect me to listen to you?"

Robbie rubbed his wings yet again, as discomfort filled him. Koie turned around and stood there, his posture stern and still. Wiping away a few tears, Koie grew louder and bolder with his accusations, as he got more in Robbie face with each one.

"Why are you even here, if you have nothing to say to me?" Koie asked, as he faced Robbie and threw his hands out at him. "Please, tell me why didn't you just continue down the road, laughing in my woes like everyone has today! What caused you to come back for seconds, some want to tear me down further?"

Stumbling backwards, Robbie knew it would have been easy to go back to his old plan. All he needed to do was turn tail and hightail it, quite literally.

But he did not. He could not, otherwise he would not be able to forgive himself. Determined, Robbie stood in opposition of Koie's request, and said, "You're right. You're completely and absolutely right. I did overstep my boundaries. Because... well, I never expected saying what I said to hurt you as much as it did. And that's why I ask you for forgiveness."

Koie looked back to the side, the previous fury still deep in his face as he stared into the river. _Please work,_ Robbie prayed, as Koie looked back at him. Not with anger, nor any remorse, just a blankness that told a tale by itself.

"I swear..." Koie said, earlier anger still bubbling over in his voice, "who even are you? And where did you come from? Tell me that, first and foremost."

With slight hesitation, Robbie answered, "I have no idea, if I'm going to be honest. When I came up here, I had woken up with barely any memories. I originally came up to your door just to gain information, which… I guess you could say led to this mess."

Preventing a guiltily nervous chuckle from leaking through, Robbie took a step forward and continued, "You're completely right that I could've just ran away, without a care. Much like those two individuals you described to me did, after doing this horrid thing to you. But… I knew I couldn't leave you like this. Not after seeing how you were. It deeply hurts me to see anybody like this, so please…"

Robbie lent out a wing towards Koie, and continued, "Let's go find Team Idpin, and see if we can't stop them in the process. Whatever it takes to get you to forgive me."

Koie blankly looked at Robbie's wing with slight confusion, and Robbie feared he had ruined any chance for conciliation. Koie then took his gaze off the water reflecting Robbie's face, before he looked back up at him. With another glance back at the water, and then at Robbie's wing again, Koie made his decision.

"If you're so adamant about helping me, fine," Koie said, allowing Robbie to sigh with relief. "But you're going to help me salvage whatever can be salvaged down near the lake, since that's the only thing you can feasibly do to help. And please, don't think this makes us buddies, either!"

Robbie nodded his head and lowered his wing, before he and Koie began their walk towards the alcove down the cliff-side. On the way there, Robbie had one thing to say, as the late morning sun shined down on them both.

"Trust me, I won't make you regret this," he said, leaving Koie to turn away from him, as he grumbled angry comments. Robbie turned away from him as well, as he receded into his own bubble and thought a few last things.

_Please, just have this kid only be suffering in a dream. Don't tell me that __monster actually did this to this kid__._

Following shortly behind Koie, Robbie really hoped this was a dream.

Both for himself, and for this kid, who he now feared had gone through things much worse than he was letting on.

* * *

Nearby, once Koie and Robbie were long gone, Idof and Espin emerged from the bushes. The more talkative of the two immediately had something to say.

"Heya, did ya see that? The Barel family child and the dirty act he played on that poor Archen?"

"Yeah, I think I did," Espin said, looking ahead on the road. "Just some more awful things done by the Barel family, like you told me about before."

"And golly, he had to rope someone completely unaware of his father's history to help him," Idof said, disdain palpable in his voice. "What do ya think about us going and teaching that Froakie a lesson?"

"I mean… the guild said no going after them directly due to our rank, but hey, hard for them to know if there are no witnesses," Espin said slyly, with a growing smile. "Let's head back and report to the guild first though, so Rorak doesn't think anything is up. Last thing we would want is her on our case."

With that, and without further delays, the two began their walk back to town. Idof allowed Espin to lead, not wanting his eyes on his every action. And from there, he noticed Espin thinking out loud, muttering facsimiles of words, to which he listened closely.

He hid his grin, as the sun peeked over the tall trees, stretching both of their shadows into the dungeon, where it promptly cut them off.


End file.
